A Spatially Explicit Model of Synchronization in Fiddler Crab Waving Displays

Araújo, Sabrina B. L.; Rorato, Ana C.; Perez, Daniela M.; Pie, Márcio R.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057362

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The final study published on synchrony in fiddler crabs produced a simple model that is able to successfully account for the emergence of local synchrony in small neighborhoods (Araujo et al. 2013).…”

Section: Synchronous Waving In Fiddler Crabs: What We Know So Farmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synchronous waving in fiddler crabs: a review

Backwell

2018

Current Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many animals that use acoustic communication synchronize their mate attraction signals: individuals precisely time their calls to overlap those of their neighbors. In contrast, synchrony in the mate attraction displays of species with visual/motion-based signals is rare. It has only been documented in five species of fiddler crabs. In all of them, small groups of males wave their single large claw in close synchrony. Here, I review what we know about synchrony in fiddler crabs, comparing the five species with each other to determine whether similar mechanisms and functions are common to all. I also propose future research questions that, if answered, would shed light on synchronous behavior in both visual and acoustic signallers.

show abstract

Section: Synchronous Waving In Fiddler Crabs: What We Know So Farmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synchronous waving in fiddler crabs: a review

Backwell

2018

Current Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In various organisms signals produced by one individual stimulate signalling activity in conspecifics [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] . It can be hypothesised that even if each animal only exchanges information with its immediate neighbours, local focuses of signalling activity can transform into waves, which by the domino effect propagate in space [18] , [19] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spreading Information in a Network of Interacting Neighbours

Halupka

2014

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dispersed individuals can coordinate the onset of life history events, like reproduction or migration, on a large (population) spatial scale. However, the mechanism of this synchronisation has not yet been identified. In many species signals produced by one individual stimulate signalling activity of immediate neighbours. I propose that such local focuses of signalling could transform into waves propagating in space. This hypothesis predicts that signalling self-organizes into bursts, because neighbours tend to enter activity and refractory periods together. Temporal characteristics of such pulses should be more similar in locations proximate to one another than in distant ones. Finally, denser populations should produce relatively more complex wave patterns, since the number of propagating waves is proportional to the number of individuals. These predictions were tested in an analysis of time series of numbers of territorial songs in chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs, and the results supported the hypothesis. Time series of singing activity had memory of their past states: they were autoregressive processes with spectra in which low frequency oscillations predominated. The degree of similarity in two synchronously sampled time series, measured as a Euclidean distance between their spectra, decreased with the increasing physical distance of sampling spots and the number of signalling males. It is concluded that networks of interacting neighbours may integrate populations synchronising life cycles of dispersed individuals.

show abstract

“…However, more elaborate patterns can be more susceptible to variation, which in turn may compromise predictability and synchrony (Araujo et al. ). We show that the characteristic of signal pattern directly influences synchronous systems, as more elaborate wave display patterns had shorter predictable periods (low L), which negatively affected synchronous emergence in our simulations (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike Araujo et al. (), our model uses the real temporal series and disregards the spatial position of these individuals in relation to one another. We ran the simulations for each pairwise combination between the five individuals filmed, for a total of 10 combinations per species.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology and signal structure drive the evolution of synchronous displays*

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animal synchrony is found in phylogenetically distant animal groups, indicating behavioral adaptations to different selective pressures and in different signaling modalities. A notable example of synchronous display is found in fiddler crabs in that males wave their single enlarged claw during courtship. They present species‐specific signals, which are composed of distinctive movement signatures. Given that synchronous waving has been reported for several fiddler crab species, the display pattern could influence the ability of a given species to sufficiently adjust wave timing to allow for synchrony. In this study, we quantified the wave displays of fiddler crabs to predict their synchronous behavior. We combined this information with the group's phylogenetic relationships to trace the evolution of display synchrony in an animal taxon. We found no phylogenetic signal in interspecific variation in predicted wave synchrony, which mirrors the general nonphylogenetic pattern of synchrony across animal taxa. Interestingly, our analyses show that the phenomenon of synchronization stems from the peculiarities of display pattern, mating systems, and the complexity of microhabitats. This is the first study to combine mathematical simulations and phylogenetic comparative methods to reveal how ecological factors and the mechanics of animal signals affect the evolution of the synchronous phenomena.

show abstract

A Spatially Explicit Model of Synchronization in Fiddler Crab Waving Displays

Cited by 13 publications

References 58 publications

Synchronous waving in fiddler crabs: a review

Synchronous waving in fiddler crabs: a review

Spreading Information in a Network of Interacting Neighbours

Ecology and signal structure drive the evolution of synchronous displays*

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About